Number One
by This is My Truth Tell Me Yours
Summary: "You don't want the comfort of a pet. You want a companion" Deanna said once, when Captain Picard told her he was not an animal person, certainly not fond of small pets... This is a short oneshot about the beggining of his relationship with Number One, the pitbul that is his companion in the first episode of Star Trek Picard.


_**DISCLAIMER:** The ideas belong to me. The characters and everything else in the Star Trek Universe belong to CBS and Paramount..._

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_TROI_

_I've never thought of you as particularly an animal person._

_PICARD_

_Small animals, no, but horses - The Arabs believed that Allah gathered the south wind and made the horse. It goes deeper than that. A fine war mare would sleep in a bedouin's tent, carry him into battle, feed his children with her milk. There is a bond which forms from mutual need._

_TROI_

_Now I understand. You don't want the comfort of a pet. You want a companion._

**_Star Trek: The Next Generation, episode 2x15 - Pen Pals_**

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The Captain of a Starship is always on duty. He is the Captain in times of war and he's the captain in times of peace; when the ship is under attack and when it's peacefully travelling among the stars; when he makes wise decisions and also when he acts like a fool; when the long mission begins and when the mission comes to an end. He is the captain when he wakes up, when he goes to bed and in every moment in between.

That was part of the reason why Jean Luc had worked so hard to achieve that post.

The Captain is still the Captain even when he is out of uniform, in his quarters, having a cup of tea. In any starship, let alone the flagship of the Federation, there is always the possibility that something unexpected will occur, some unusual event or emergency that requires the Captain to be at his post. The Captain of a Starship must always be prepared to expect the unexpected.

That was the part he missed the most.

Life in the vineyards was much duller than that.

He had had his reasons to resign his commission. Jean Luc believed in what he stood for; what Starfleet was and what it represented. He had no regrets. Nevertheless, he missed being the Captain of the Enterprise.

He'd had other ships before, but none had been like that. The Enterprise was the one that still populated his dreams. He remembered the breakfasts he used to share with Beverly every morning, and the long conversations he and Deanna used to have. He remembered listening to Data's violin concerts and trying to convince his number one to join him in his fencing sessions on the Holodeck. He remembered playing poker with his friends and practising his flute in the solitude of the Jeffries tubes.

He missed even the things he was not supposed to miss, like Mr Mot's annoying habit of trying to talk about battle tactics while he was cutting his hair, or even the eventful visits of Q. He missed the fishbowl in his ready room and the soft buzz of the environmental systems breaking the silence of an empty deck. Most of all, however, he missed his friends. Will, Deanna, Data, Beverly, Geordi, Worf, Guinan… He missed them all.

He thought about them all the time. Jean Luc had had a lot of time to think since he'd moved back into the chateau. Wine grapes were slow to grow, and there wasn't much to do between planting and harvesting. He read, drank wine and practised his flute every single day. He tried not to dwell on the past too much, but his friends insisted on visiting him in his dreams.

The dreams were so sweet, that whenever he woke up, it took Jean Luc several minutes to remember why he felt so sad and tired.

The alarm clock told him it was 4:57 in the morning. Early. Too early to raise from his slumber, but the former Captain of the Enterprise could never go back to sleep after those dreams. He needed something to occupy his mind with. A book perhaps. Or a game of chess against the computer.

Jean Luc Picard put on a robe over his pyjamas and stood foolishly in front of his bedroom's door for a couple of seconds until he remembered he had to use the handle to open the doors in that ancient French house. Then he stole downstairs. It was still dark, but he knew the house well, or at least he thought he did –

"AAAAARRRGH!"

Jean Luc Picard leapt into the air with as much agility as he could muster, dragging a wooden table and a couple of chairs noisily and trying to hold on to the furniture for support. He had stumbled on something on his way to his study, something that was not supposed to be there. A cardboard box with something squashy inside – something alive!"

"Captain!"

Zhaban rushed to his friend's side, holding Picard's arm to help him straighten up.

"Are you alright?" Laris asked, entering the room right behind the other Romulan and increasing the brightness of the lights with a voice command

"What is that ?" Jean Luc managed to ask between breaths, pointing at the cardboard box on the floor.

"Aw, you found my surprise!"

Laris kneeled, noticing for the first time that one of the sides of the box had been completely destroyed by the Captain's foot. Then she picked up the squashy little thing he had almost trodden on. It was a puppy, and from the looks of it, it couldn't be more than a couple of weeks old.

"Surprise ?"

"You got scared, didn't you? Well, everything is alright now, you see? Everything is fine." She was talking to the dog now. Her voice was an octave higher, and the tone was not dissimilar from the tone a human might use when speaking to a baby.

"Laris!"

"What ?"

"That is a dog. There is a dog in my house."

"I told her we should have checked with you first." Zhaban pointed out.

"Well, if I had checked with him it wouldn't have been a surprise, now, would it ?"

"Laris, what is this dog doing here ?"

"Well, I got him for you."

"For me ?"

"I thought it would do you well to have someone to keep you company when Zhabar and I are out."

"I am not suffering for company, thank you very much."

"Perhaps we should discuss this in the morning," Zhaban sounded hesitant.

"We are talking about this now." The Captain said firmly. "Laris, in the morning you must take this animal someplace else."

"I will not."

"I have never had a dog in my life!"

"Well, you have one now," she said stubbornly, placing the puppy in the Captain's hands despite his protests, "see? He is very cute."

"Cute—He—" Jean Luc held the dog awkwardly while he struggled to organize his thoughts. "That is beside the point, Laris. I do not want a dog."

His voice had lowered to the point where she had to read his lips as if the captain was trying to spare the puppy's feelings.

"I am not taking him back. So you might as well get used to him."

That was the discussion for that moment. When she left, Jean Luc was still holding the puppy in his right hand.

"It's a very small dog", he said desolated, looking at the tiny animal.

"It will grow," Zhaban said calmly, picking up the dog from the Captain's hands and taking it away for a while.

During the next few days, Jean Luc did his best to avoid the puppy whenever he could. He had never been interested in pets. He watched it as it licked Zhabar's hand excitedly whenever the Romulan offered him a treat. That animal was so small and so full of life. Jean Luc couldn't possibly offer him the emotional stimulus he would need. No, the animal would have to go.

Laris, however, refused to see reason.

Nearly a week after discovering the puppy in his house, the Captain was alone with him for the first time. There wasn't much to do since Zhabar had fed the animal before they left, so the Captain decided to read for a while.

The puppy wanted to come into the study as well.

The Captain didn't see it coming at first. It came quietly, one paw after the other, and it peaked inside, looking for the Captain, almost like a child who is up to no good. When it finally walked into the office, the Captain reacted quickly.

"Oh no! Not in here. Out! Out now."

The puppy rushed back to the door but didn't leave. Instead, it looked back at the Captain for a few seconds and lay down, sprawling across the rug.

The Captain looked at the dog with a suspicious look, at first, but decided to let it be.

After three weeks, Laris started to pester the Captain about giving the puppy a name. The Captain insisted that she found it another home. It was a stalemate.

The next time he was left alone with the puppy something triggered the security alarms of the chateau. It turned out to be nothing, but the Captain was quite impressed by the way that tiny animal stood in front of him, as if it was willing to protect him from whatever dangers might come. When Jean Luc stood up to go and find the source of the disturbance, the puppy charged forward, ahead of him.

"You remind me of a first officer I had, one that would never let me beam down in any away missions," he smiled.

A few days later, the Captain fell asleep on his armchair, succumbing to unsettling dreams. When he woke up, however, his heart felt calm. He felt something warm on his lap and realized that the puppy had fallen asleep on his lap, its nose buried in his sweater, in what seemed like a most uncomfortable position.

It felt nice though. For the first time in weeks, the Captain felt like he could go back to sleep after an unsettling awakening.

"Ah, it's you, Number One," he said, patting the small dog on his lap before drifting off into his oneiric world once more.

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**Author's Note**: The first thing that came to mind when I saw the Captain with a dog was that dialogue between him and Deanna in the second season... I thought a oneshot exploring the beggining of their relationship might be worth exploring...

Please Review, I would love to have some feedback. I can barely wait for today's episode.

**Live Long and Prosper.**


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